Tuesday, February 4, 2014

My latest infatuation, brined pork

Brining meats is a great way to add some fun flavor, and while it is better with a little forethought, it can even be done in a pinch.  Tonight's dinner featured a brined bone in pork chop (grilled with bbq sauce), mashed potatoes and braised collard greens.  There are many ways to brine meat, but my current favorite (and a great way to brine quickly) is using pickle juice.  Outside of the brining, this dinner took probably an hour total from start to finish:

Pork Chops:
2 Bone in pork loin chops (I get mine at the butcher counter at Whole Foods and they're about 1" thick)
1/4 cup Clausen's pickle juice (when I finish a jar of pickles I keep the juice in the fridge just for this purpose)
Bar-b-que Sauce (I used Stubb's Spicy here, but any sauce will do)
1 large, shallow, ziploc tupperware container

Put the pork end to end in the ziploc (or whatever other container allows them both to be fully touching the bottom.  Add the pickle juice, and shake lightly to ensure the chops move and allow juice under them.  Brine the pork overnight, flipping about half way through (before I go to work in the morning is when I do it).
Heat grill to medium-high temperature and begin cooking pork (about 5 minutes for the one's I use, but adjust time as you see fit)
Once you flip, apply sauce ... cook another five minutes (or your adjusted time) and flip again, applying sauce to this side as well.  I'll probably flip 2 or so more times in the next 4 minutes to get a little more sauce on both sides.  Pull pork off and prepare to enjoy with your favorite sides (even when you know you've cooked it through, the brining can leave pork looking a little pink, always error on the side of caution, but you're likely good).

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